For about a year now, I had a badly screaming belt on my Saturn SW1. Sparing the play by play of the events that moved this onto the front burner, I decided that this was the weekend and today was the day that would change. The problem was not the belt (although it was frayed) but was, in fact, the belt tensioner - basically a spring-loaded idler pulley that exerts pressure on the belt to maintain belt tension. The pivot of the the tensioning arm has a bushing which had become shmushed, rendering the tensioner incapable of exerting sufficient presure on the belt to keep it from slipping.
So why did I wait a year to do it? Because the first procedure I found for doing entailed supporting the engine with a block of wood and removing the engine mount. If one was lucky, this procedure chimed, one could maybe avoid having to pull the power steering pump. So my next door neighbor, a mechanic who takes the occasional job said that If I got the parts, she'd do the work for 100 bucks. Sounded good. We agreed on the Friday after Thanksgiving (also
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morgan1's and my anniversary). The day rolled round, no word. Turns out, she had the flu, and although she said she'd get to it the next day, she did not look like she would be doing anything but sipping hot beverages and taking bedrest anytime soon.
( So I did it myself, details within. )Then came the moment of truth. I turned the engine on and loaded the electrical system and fired up the AC, not a peep, and no parts went flying. I put the splashguards back in, remounted the tire and drove
morgan1 and me up to Baker's Square for a celebratory dinner.
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